Skip to main content
A Singapore Government Agency Website How to identify
Official website links end with .gov.sg
Government agencies communicate via .gov.sg websites (e.g. go.gov.sg/open). Trusted websites
Secure websites use HTTPS
Look for a lock () or https:// as an added precaution. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Welcome to our refreshed website!

We've updated the site to make information easier to access and navigate. While some content may have been reorganised, you can browse our updated sections to find what you need.

Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)
Conserved Building

128A Cairnhill Road

Applicable Guidelines

Residential Historic District Guidelines

Conservation Area

Cairnhill Conservation Area

Historic address: 128A Cairnhill Road

About

This pre-war two-storey Transitional terrace house is one of a row of nine units in a streetblock that sits handsomely on a hill off Orchard Road, along Cairnhill Road. It was built in the early 1900s for Seow Poh Leng (1883–1942), a Peranakan philanthropist and founder of Ho Hong Bank, which merged with the Oversea-Chinese Bank and Chinese Commercial Bank in 1932 to form the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation.

The History

Cairnhill Road was an estate road leading to the hilltop nutmeg plantation of Charles Carnie (1810–1873), a Scotsman whose house was called Cairn Hill. There is no consensus on how the name came about. One explanation suggests that Carnie named his estate after a cairn — a common element in Scottish place names meaning a heap of stones, especially on a hill. Another explanation holds that the name is simply a corruption of "Carnie's Hill".

The Building

The terrace houses are designed with simple but elegant plaster mouldings, a balcony, and a forecourt fronting the main road. The main access to each house is via a set of stairs off Cairnhill Road. Each unit comprises two portions: a two-storey main building with a pitched clay-tiled roof and timber floors, and a rear service block constructed in reinforced concrete with a rear court.

Guidelines and Procedures

All proposed works will need to comply with the Conservation Guidelines and the Specific Restoration Guidelines (SRG). Conservation Permission is required before all additions & alteration works and operations of new use can begin.

Residential Fronts are characterised by timber casement windows flanking a double-leafed timber door. All buildings with residential front which is existing and/or identified in the 'Specific Restoration Guidelines', regardless of land use zoning, shall be retained and restored.

Explore Street View

The building can be found at this street.

Back to top